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As a beginning forum user, I often found myself going back to older threads and wiki pages in order to accumulate information that other people had already gained through extensive research and discussions. This prompted me to start a series of analyses, in an attempt to clarify the theories people have been making on this site for a long time. After combining many scattered pieces of information regarding much discussed topics in ASOIAF, I ended up with more-or-less complete analyses. I hope sharing these notes with the rest of the community will help out other newer members (and perhaps older ones too) in understanding these theories.

(Before I begin, a special shoutout to 'ghostlovesinger' from 'ToweroftheHand.com' whose essay added tons of information to this analysis)

All right :) , for those of you still reading, here is all the information I have gathered regarding ALLERAS and the theory that he is probably the daughter of Oberyn Martell in disguise:

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Alleras, known as The Sphinx, is a novice studying at the Citadel in Oldtown. Alleras is described as having a noble Dornishman for a father and a Summer Islander for a mother. In ‘A Feast for Crows’ we learn that Alleras has been at the Citadel for a year and has forged three links in his Maester's chain. When Samwell Tarly arrives in Oldtown, Alleras seeks him out as soon as he enters the Citadel and instructs him to go to Marwyn. Alleras is believed to be an alias assumed by Sarella Sand, one of Oberyn Martell's bastard daughters known as ‘the Sand Snakes’. There are many indications that this is correct. On their own they would not stand, but seen as a whole, the claim becomes quite plausible.

In ‘A Feast for Crows’, a whole slew of clues were brought to us in the form of a passage between Prince Doran Martell and his captain of guards, Areo Hotah. This exchange happened immediately after Martell ordered Hotah to take the Sand Snakes into custody:

"What of Sarella? She is a woman grown, almost twenty."

"Unless she returns to Dorne, there's naught I can do about Sarella save pray that she shows more sense than her sisters. Leave her to her . . . game.”

1) The first and most obvious clue is the fact that "Alleras" is "Sarella" spelled backwards.

2) The second clue is that Sarella is presently not in Dorne and far enough away that Doran is forced to leave her alone.

3) We also learn that Sarella is 19 years old, meaning she is about the right age to pass for an acolyte of the Citadel

4) The most intriguing clue this passage provides is that she is engaged in some sort of "game". Since women are not permitted to become maesters, if Sarella is indeed Alleras, her "game" could very well be that she is pretending to be a man and an acolyte of the Citadel.

5) Another clue can be found in Alleras’s physical appearance. In the FFC prologue Alleras’s defining physical features are described in detail as:

When Sam Tarly meets Alleras in the final chapter of AFFC, he also notices the black hair and eyes, and the widow's peak. Matching this with Obyren Martells description shows a startling resemblance. The defining features of Oberyn Martell are the same defining features of Alleras. At the very least, we can say that Alleras looks a great deal like the Red Viper. Additionally, the strange description of his ‘slim arms’ suggests that the Sphinx may, in fact, be female.

6) The next clue is also derived from Alleras’s physical resemblance to Oberyn. The eyes in particular draw the reader's attention, due to the manner in which they are described. Oberyn's eyes are "black and shiny as pools of coal oil" and Alleras has "eyes of onyx." This becomes more interesting when referenced with something that Areo Hotah thinks to himself upon viewing one of the other Sand Snakes, Tyene, in ‘A Feast for Crows’

“Her hair was gold as well, and her eyes were deep blue pools . . . and yet somehow they reminded the captain of her father's eyes, though Oberyn's had been as black as night. All of prince Oberyn's daughters have his viper eyes, Hotah realized suddenly. The color does not matter.”

7) Another indication that Sarella might be the acolyte in Oldtown can be found by learning about Sarella’s personality. She loves knowledge and Oldtown. This is strongly indicated in the following two passages made respectively by Nymeria Sand and Arianne Martell in AFFC:

Nymeria: “Obara wants me to go to war.” Nym laughed. “Yes she wants to set the torch to Oldtown. She hates that city as much as our little sister loves it.”

Arriane: "My uncle brought me here, with Tyene and Sarella." The memory made Arianne smile. "He caught some vipers and showed Tyene the safest way to milk them for their venom. Sarella turned over rocks, brushed sand off the mosaics, and wanted to know everything there was to know about the people who had lived here."

Additionally, Alleras had only been at the Citadel for a year, yet already he had forged three links of his maester's chain. We know that Oberyn also demonstrated a thirst for knowledge at the Citadel, going so far as to forge six links of a maester's chain before he grew bored. Combine the previous quotes with the fact that Alleras seems to be an exceptionally gifted acolyte and that too will form an indication.

8) A second Arianne quote strengthens the previously discussed aspect of Sarella's personality:

“Nym would sometimes join them in their sport, and Sarella was forever pushing in where she didn't belong, but for the most part they had been a company of five.”

Someone who is "forever pushing in where she doesn't belong" is admirably suited to be the type of person who would infiltrate the Citadel.

9) Leo Tyrell makes a point of Alleras possessing more silver than the other acolytes and notes that, despite his mixed parentage, Alleras speaks in a "soft Dornish drawl". This indicates that he was raised in Dorne (speech patterns are a reflection of childhood environment rather than birth).

10) A final piece of information that links Sarella and Alleras concerns the Summer Isles part of their ancestry. We're told that Sarella's mother is a trader captain of the ship Feathered Kiss from the Summer Isles. In the prologue of AFFC, Alleras is wielding a bow (along with arrows) of goldenheart, a wood native to the Summer Isles and used by its inhabitants to make their famous bows. It's not often seen in Westeros. (Credit to Sevumar for providing this clue)

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Conclusion: Perhaps giving a name to one character that happens to be the exact backwards reading of the name of another could be construed as coincidence, but when the characters in question appear to have so much in common, and when there is so much evidence linking the pair of them, it becomes increasingly unlikely that the hints and clues given throughout ‘A Feast For Crows’ are there for some other purpose. If we are to assume that Sarella was sent to the citadel in order to complete a specific mission or accomplish a specific goal, it would be hardly inconceivable that such a girl, raised by the Red Viper and so curious about history and culture, would be chosen to infiltrate the Citadel. So with this, we can conclude that the theory claiming Alleras ‘the Sphinx’ is actually Oberyn Martells daughter, the sandsnake Sarella, in disguise is one that can be believed.

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Of course, knowing this only begs more questions. Why is Sarella in Oldtown studying to become a maester? Why did she help out Samwell upon his arrival in the Citadel? How come she seems to be so interested in 'the three-headed dragon'? Etc ...

Well, the point of this was not to answer those questions, but simply to help clear up some things for the people who have not yet delved themselves into this theory. Feel free to contribute your information and opinion to this analysis, as I am sure that there is much to be added.

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Good post man.Btw i have a request,u did a very good profile on alleras,can u do a similiar one on maester marwyn and euron greyjoy? I bielive both these characters are really intrigiung(bad spelling ik) and rather vague like alleras.i think there are quite a few sublteties about these 2 that ive missed out...so can u make a profile on them and post it either in this thread or a separate one...ty!

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Good post man.Btw i have a request,u did a very good profile on alleras,can u do a similiar one on maester marwyn and euron greyjoy? I bielive both these characters are really intrigiung(bad spelling ik) and rather vague like alleras.i think there are quite a few sublteties about these 2 that ive missed out...so can u make a profile on them and post it either in this thread or a separate one...ty!

Sure thing. I have many and more notes ready to be reorganized and posted. There are a few others that I would like to do first, but I'll keep an extra eye out for all the Euron info.

It may prove to be too early to summarize Maester Marwyn, since there has been very little mention of him and his mysteries, so far. However, I do suggest checking out an article called "a maester on the bleeding edge" on 'Towerofthehand.com' since it shows some interesting facts about the old Maester (just type the article name in google and it should show up)

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There's one more piece of information that links Sarella and Alleras that you might want to add, the Summer Isles part of their ancestry. We're told that Sarella's mother is a trader captain of the ship Feathered Kiss from the Summer Isles. In the prologue of AFFC, Alleras is wielding a bow (along with arrows) of goldenheart, a wood native to the Summer Isles and used by its inhabitants to make their famous bows. It's not often seen in Westeros.

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There's one more piece of information that links Sarella and Alleras that you might want to add, the Summer Isles part of their ancestry. We're told that Sarella's mother is a trader captain of the ship Feathered Kiss from the Summer Isles. In the prologue of AFFC, Alleras is wielding a bow (along with arrows) of goldenheart, a wood native to the Summer Isles and used by its inhabitants to make their famous bows. It's not often seen in Westeros.

Thanks, I never noticed that. It will be added it and I'll credit you for the the contribution.

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I only reently found out about this... Felt so dumb. But as you say, what exactly is her game? I found the oldtown chapters very cool an mysterious. The town just seems genuinely medieval. Plus all the maesters and the unresolved issues of "the book", the faceless man assassination and the glass candle/dragonglass. It just all feels imporrant for the larger scheme of things to happen. I'm really curious.

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I'm really afraid what happens in the Citadel will turn out to be your classical magical school of a lot of fantasy novels ! I hope not !

I'm not a huge fantasy expert so could you explain your worries? I would assume that the magical stuff (others, red priests, warging etc etc) could use some explanation by maester experts. Maybe they're some sort of secret occult society? Idk at this point but i'd like to know more so I don't understand what would be wrong with a classical (i assume you mean cliche) magical school.

Oh and let's not forget the Dorne FM involvement... Also very intruiging, i think.

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Wow, great post. I can't wait to find out more about Oldtown & the Citadel (even though some people find it boring down there.) Let's just hope those damn pirate iron islanders don't raid and destroy the place.

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Sarellas ultimate goal is to kill a dragon... Why, maybe Oberyn did not like the targaryens that much since rhaegar was basically cheating on Elia with a certain Stark girl. And that ultimately led to the death of Elia. I think it was stated somewhere that Oberyn and Elia were very close. Although it is said that Oberyn wanted to keep fighting for the Targaryens during Roberts Rebellion, this might have been just a act. To bad Doran held him back so he could not play out his secret game.

When he finds out that dragons have resurfaced (through his many contacts that he gained during his travels), he sends his youngest daughter (Sarella) to the citadel to learn more about then in order to find how the maesters killed the previous dragons.

And the last hint..... Tyrion has mentionned that the only way to kill a dragon is to hit him where he is not protected (underbely and EYES) and is it no very convenient that Arellas is very good with his bow. Why else focussing on it that much in AFFC....

Unbelievable? I think not although it still is a crazie crakpot theory

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Sarellas ultimate goal is to kill a dragon... Why, maybe Oberyn did not like the targaryens that much since rhaegar was basically cheating on Elia with a certain Stark girl. And that ultimately led to the death of Elia. I think it was stated somewhere that Oberyn and Elia were very close. Although it is said that Oberyn wanted to keep fighting for the Targaryens during Roberts Rebellion, this might have been just a act. To bad Doran held him back so he could not play out his secret game.

When he finds out that dragons have resurfaced (through his many contacts that he gained during his travels), he sends his youngest daughter (Sarella) to the citadel to learn more about then in order to find how the maesters killed the previous dragons.

And the last hint..... Tyrion has mentionned that the only way to kill a dragon is to hit him where he is not protected (underbely and EYES) and is it no very convenient that Arellas is very good with his bow. Why else focussing on it that much in AFFC....

Unbelievable? I think not although it still is a crazie crakpot theory